Akron Zips cruise in blowout win over Cleveland State Vikings

Facing a good University of Akron team at James A. Rhodes Arena, the Vikings came up on the extremely short end of an 87-57 rout.

The final score was indicative of a dominant performance by the Zips, who raced to a 21-9 lead after 10 minutes and never looked back.

CSU slipped to 7-5 with the loss. The Zips improved to 6-4 while snapping a two-game losing streak to CSU.

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Akron built a 42-25 lead at halftime and led by as many as 35 points late in the second half. The Zips had a 42-12 advantage in points in the paint.

Part of that eye-popping advantage can be explained by CSU playing without 6-8 sophomore center Anton Grady, out for the season after knee surgery.

But even with a completely healthy Grady on the floor, it's doubtful CSU would have hung with a deep, tall and talented Akron front court anchored by 7-foot senior center Zeke Marshall and 6-7 junior forward Demetrius "Tree" Treadwell.

Marshall finished with 18 points and cashed in seven of 10 fielders. Treadwell, the former Euclid High School standout, chipped in with 15 points and eight rebounds. He was 7-of-11 from the field.

Coming off the bench, 6-8 junior forward Nick Harney knocked in a game-high 19 points in 17 minutes. The former Benedictine star was 6-of-7 from the field.

Pat Forsythe, a 6-11 redshirt freshman from Brunswick, was 2-of-4 from the field.

Combined, the four Akron "bigs" were 22-of-32 from the field.

"I expect this kind of dominance," said Marshall, a probable NBA draftee. "As big as we are, we should dominate the paint."

Treadwell was a bit of a risky recruit because of iffy academics. Akron coach Keith Dambrot admitted as much at the time and said time would tell if the reward would justify the risk.

Right now, Treadwell seems to be on his way not just to vindicating Dambrot's faith in him, but to being one of the elite inside players in the Mid-American Conference.

"This might be the best all-around game we've played (this season). The better is yet to come," Treadwell said.

The Zips shot 53.2 percent from the field and owned the boards, winning the rebounding battle, 43-23.

"We knew we had a really big advantage inside. Our game plan was to go down in, go down in, go down in,' Dambrot said.

CSU coach Gary Waters tipped his hat to the Zips.

"They played their butts off. They played with a vengeance," Waters said.

Freshman guard Junior Lomomba, playing through the pain of a broken right foot still on the mend, topped the Vikings with 16 points. Freshman guard Bryb Forbes added 13 points of the bench.

CSU was hurt by a sub-par performance by sophomore point guard Charlie Lee, who had more turnovers (seven) than points(six).

"That's the area that really killed us. Charlie is to god of a layer for that to happen," Waters said.